Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[McK&H.Aust]

Sadly the weather wasn't the best this morning, there were frequent showers which seemed to happen every time I got out of the car at a crossing
I did manage to ptotograph the two disused crossings at Portland (Garden St and Kennedy St) which still have their incandescent lights. Also photograped Hamilton - Port Fairy Rd and the WCH m-bell there, plus the Henty Hwy at Moutajup which has a McK&H teardrop. I'm leaving Portland tomorrow but will photograph some more crossings on the way, probably won't get them all but will try to photograph the teardrop crossings at a minimum.

Looks like there’s more showers forecasted for the area tomorrow, but most likely during the afternoon or evening.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/hamilton.shtml

Hopefully the weather will be ok until lunch time, but I've been very lucky to film three crossings here so everything else is icing on the cake
Looks like the weather will be a bit better at Swan Hill where I'm staying on Monday & Tuesday nights.

[TrickyMario7654]

Sadly the weather wasn't the best this morning, there were frequent showers which seemed to happen every time I got out of the car at a crossing
I did manage to ptotograph the two disused crossings at Portland (Garden St and Kennedy St) which still have their incandescent lights. Also photograped Hamilton - Port Fairy Rd and the WCH m-bell there, plus the Henty Hwy at Moutajup which has a McK&H teardrop. I'm leaving Portland tomorrow but will photograph some more crossings on the way, probably won't get them all but will try to photograph the teardrop crossings at a minimum.

Looks like there’s more showers forecasted for the area tomorrow, but most likely during the afternoon or evening.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/hamilton.shtml

Hopefully the weather will be ok until lunch time, but I've been very lucky to film three crossings here so everything else is icing on the cake
Looks like the weather will be a bit better at Swan Hill where I'm staying on Monday & Tuesday nights.

You’d hope so.

On a different note, I found this Vision Australia Foundation advert from 2000 which features the Glenferrie Road crossing in Kooyong. You can see it at around 11:31 in this video...

[McK&H.Aust]

Sadly the weather wasn't the best this morning, there were frequent showers which seemed to happen every time I got out of the car at a crossing
I did manage to ptotograph the two disused crossings at Portland (Garden St and Kennedy St) which still have their incandescent lights. Also photograped Hamilton - Port Fairy Rd and the WCH m-bell there, plus the Henty Hwy at Moutajup which has a McK&H teardrop. I'm leaving Portland tomorrow but will photograph some more crossings on the way, probably won't get them all but will try to photograph the teardrop crossings at a minimum.

Looks like there’s more showers forecasted for the area tomorrow, but most likely during the afternoon or evening.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/hamilton.shtml

Hopefully the weather will be ok until lunch time, but I've been very lucky to film three crossings here so everything else is icing on the cake
Looks like the weather will be a bit better at Swan Hill where I'm staying on Monday & Tuesday nights.

You’d hope so.

On a different note, I found this Vision Australia Foundation advert from 2000 which features the Glenferrie Road crossing in Kooyong. You can see it at around 11:31 in this video...

You did well to spot that in the ad

Really liked Bud Tingwell and it's sad that he died

[TrickyMario7654]

Sadly the weather wasn't the best this morning, there were frequent showers which seemed to happen every time I got out of the car at a crossing
I did manage to ptotograph the two disused crossings at Portland (Garden St and Kennedy St) which still have their incandescent lights. Also photograped Hamilton - Port Fairy Rd and the WCH m-bell there, plus the Henty Hwy at Moutajup which has a McK&H teardrop. I'm leaving Portland tomorrow but will photograph some more crossings on the way, probably won't get them all but will try to photograph the teardrop crossings at a minimum.

Looks like there’s more showers forecasted for the area tomorrow, but most likely during the afternoon or evening.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/hamilton.shtml

Hopefully the weather will be ok until lunch time, but I've been very lucky to film three crossings here so everything else is icing on the cake
Looks like the weather will be a bit better at Swan Hill where I'm staying on Monday & Tuesday nights.

You’d hope so.

On a different note, I found this Vision Australia Foundation advert from 2000 which features the Glenferrie Road crossing in Kooyong. You can see it at around 11:31 in this video...

You did well to spot that in the ad

Really liked Bud Tingwell and it's sad that he died

Certainly must be sad to lose iconic actors.

Looks like the crossing also had its original Westinghouse gate mechs at the time (and probably black & white wishbone gates too). If I spot any crossings in adverts I find on old tapes I have, I’ll make sure to post them here...

[trainman7]

Checked out more crossings on the Portland line today. First are the two crossings not on GSV...

S Boundary Rd at Hamilton has a Safetran Type 3 e-bell. It looks like a late 1980's or early 1990's installation.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1V59pU ... ceRYcpNDJP
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FIESG ... jPcYSuBNLv

Mill Rd, Strathkellar is a much older installation with a McKenzie & Holland teardrop bell
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VcNZD ... YL7m2f1aSn
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_i9E6 ... c_lQvzQ4rQ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SJneU ... HVfC2eu9NE
Liked the crossing so much that I filmed it, the teardrop bell sounds a bit tired but still nice. The train had two 81 class locomotives as opposed to yesterday's train which had a G and a BL.

As for the other crossings checked today, they all still have m-bells....
Cashmore Rd, Portland (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.321 ... 328!8i1664
Darts Rd, Portland North (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.315 ... 328!8i1664
Westlakes Rd, Portland North (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.306 ... 328!8i1664
Gorae Rd, Bolwarra (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.285 ... 328!8i1664
Condah - Coleraine Rd (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.941 ... 328!8i1664
Hamilton - Port Fairy Rd (now has WCH m-bell) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.763 ... 328!8i1664
Tyers St, Hamilton (teardrop) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.737 ... 312!8i6656
Mill Rd, Hamilton (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.731 ... 312!8i6656

Also had a quick look at Burgins Rd, Hamilton which still has a Safetran Type 3 e-bell, the nearby Iluka Minerals siding looked very rusty so I guess that traffic has stopped completely. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.782 ... 328!8i1664

All crossings now have LED's.

Great to see you found another teardrop! The Iluka sand train stoped in November last year after the mine ceased production. It supplied the sand processing plant (not sure where the mine was!)

[trainman7]

Sorry for the long post and changing the topic, but I thought I would share some photos of my trip to check out some of the signals in the Muswellbrook area yesterday to see if there was anything interesting left (there was!)

The first crossing I visited, was the soon to be removed Hebden Rd, Ravensworth: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ra ... b490438920
The bridge replacing the signals looks to be nearly complete and will likely replace the signals in a couple of months. I only had time to take one photo and it’s fairly low quality as my camera battery was dead so I had to use the photo from my phone.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/

The second location was Sandy Creek Rd Muswellbrook:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Sa ... 3ba24613b6
Sadly the WCH mechanical bell has been replaced with a Safetran type 3 e-bell but is otherwise unchanged.

The next was Rouchel Rd Aberdeen:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/67 ... 1d1dd002f0
Sadly the old gateless signals have been completely removed and replaced with new gated signals. The new signals also feature the recently approved, WCH 8 inch lights with Aldridge LEDs. These signals were installed on the 12th of April this year.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/

The fourth was Mangoola Rd, Mangoola: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ma ... 862ffb3f52
Unfortunately one of the hybrid bells died and was replaced by a Safetran type 3 e-bell. This is the only location in NSW that I know of that has red United Group lights. These signals were installed in late 2008 with the United Group lights replacing the original Westinghouse LED lights in 2010.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/

The next was Rosemount Rd Denman: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Ro ... b472ffc7e0
Thankfully it remains the same as shown on GSV!

Finally I saved the best until last. This WCH mechanical bell at Brook St Muswellbrook: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/19 ... dbcfe53f62 has incredibly been replaced by of all things, a Modern Industries mechanical bell!!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
Interestingly, ARTC left the mountings from the previous WCH bell. I guess this means there were other MI mechanical bells in NSW, apart from The Rock and Wagga Wagga.

[TrickyMario7654]

Finally I saved the best until last. This WCH mechanical bell at Brook St Muswellbrook: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/19 ... dbcfe53f62 has incredibly been replaced by of all things, a Modern Industries mechanical bell!!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
Interestingly, ARTC left the mountings from the previous WCH bell. I guess this means there were other MI mechanical bells in NSW, apart from The Rock and Wagga Wagga.

Wonder what happened there? Did the previous WCH bell die, and they just had a spare MI bell lying around, so they reused it at this crossing. Also makes me wonder if it came from The Rock?

[trainman7]

Finally I saved the best until last. This WCH mechanical bell at Brook St Muswellbrook: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/19 ... dbcfe53f62 has incredibly been replaced by of all things, a Modern Industries mechanical bell!!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
Interestingly, ARTC left the mountings from the previous WCH bell. I guess this means there were other MI mechanical bells in NSW, apart from The Rock and Wagga Wagga.

Wonder what happened there? Did the previous WCH bell die, and they just had a spare MI bell lying around, so they reused it at this crossing. Also makes me wonder if it came from The Rock?

The WCH bell was clicking and dying regularly around December 2013 so it’s likely it eventually died. The first I noticed they replaced the bell was in March 2015 (assumed it was WCH ) so it couldn’t have been from The Rock. I guess the bell came off some crossing that had been upgraded in the area and had been lying around in storage.

[McK&H.Aust]

Finally I saved the best until last. This WCH mechanical bell at Brook St Muswellbrook: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/19 ... dbcfe53f62 has incredibly been replaced by of all things, a Modern Industries mechanical bell!!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139253871 ... ed-public/
Interestingly, ARTC left the mountings from the previous WCH bell. I guess this means there were other MI mechanical bells in NSW, apart from The Rock and Wagga Wagga.

Wonder what happened there? Did the previous WCH bell die, and they just had a spare MI bell lying around, so they reused it at this crossing. Also makes me wonder if it came from The Rock?

The WCH bell was clicking and dying regularly around December 2013 so it’s likely it eventually died. The first I noticed they replaced the bell was in March 2015 (assumed it was WCH ) so it couldn’t have been from The Rock. I guess the bell came off some crossing that had been upgraded in the area and had been lying around in storage.

That's awesome to see another Modern Industries bell being installed, thanks for the pictures

The bell certainly isn't from The Rock, because that bell had red/orange primer which could be seen underneath the black paint. I'm still wanting to film the crossing at Grass Tree with the hybrid bells, so may film Brook St too

It's possible that the original base from the MI bell was damaged, perhaps that is why it was removed from service, I guess they recycled the base from the dead WCH bell. Lucky the crossing is on ARTC tracks anyway!


Changing the subject again lol....

Finished checking the remaining crossings on the Portland Line today. There was only one change I noticed which was on the Glenelg Hwy at Glenthompson.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.636 ... 312!8i6656
The teardrop bell has been replaced by a hybrid bell, but at least it wasn't an e-bell.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Dqs_W ... Ji9sN0fsuI
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AMSz5 ... uy4UVqzcPw
https://drive.google.com/open?id=13E_6t ... -4Q79EBUS2
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QRGfM ... mGwb_kIzXC

That means there are only two e-bells on the entire line, certainly a miracle these days

The unchanged crossings checked today were.....
Willaura - Wickliffe Rd (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.551 ... 312!8i6656
Delacombe Way, Willaura (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.546 ... 328!8i1664
Mortlake - Ararat Rd, Maroona (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.444 ... 328!8i1664
As expected, the nearby crossing on the main line at Maroona (Helendoite Rd) now has a Safetran Type 3 e-bell
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.444 ... 328!8i1664

Managed to photograph all of the teardrop bells on the line, plus a few more crossings today before the weather turned crappy.

[TrickyMario7654]

Finished checking the remaining crossings on the Portland Line today. There was only one change I noticed which was on the Glenelg Hwy at Glenthompson.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.636 ... 312!8i6656
The teardrop bell has been replaced by a hybrid bell, but at least it wasn't an e-bell.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Dqs_W ... Ji9sN0fsuI
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AMSz5 ... uy4UVqzcPw
https://drive.google.com/open?id=13E_6t ... -4Q79EBUS2
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QRGfM ... mGwb_kIzXC

That means there are only two e-bells on the entire line, certainly a miracle these days

The unchanged crossings checked today were.....
Willaura - Wickliffe Rd (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.551 ... 312!8i6656
Delacombe Way, Willaura (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.546 ... 328!8i1664
Mortlake - Ararat Rd, Maroona (hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.444 ... 328!8i1664
As expected, the nearby crossing on the main line at Maroona (Helendoite Rd) now has a Safetran Type 3 e-bell
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.444 ... 328!8i1664

Managed to photograph all of the teardrop bells on the line, plus a few more crossings today before the weather turned crappy.

I might want to make a daytrip down to the area with dad one day and check out the crossings myself.

In all, I've counted six active Teardrop bells on the line. Certainly a gold mine along with the Safetran and WCH m-bells too (which seem to be just as rare nowdays). Hybrid bells seem to be coming rarer and rarer as the years go by, so it's good to see a good number survive on the line...

What where the other crossings you photographed, out of curiosity?